Ontario and British Columbia are getting a new Harmonized Sales Tax, or HST, on July 1. The HST replaces the Goods & Services Tax that I now charge, so this will affect me. So I signed up about a month ago to receive technical bulletins from the government that would tell me things I might need to know.

Or not. The one today, on “Temporary Recapture of Input Tax Credits in Ontario and British Columbia,” summarized its contents in 105 words of dense governmentese!

Let’s see, how many of us can easily understand a sentence like that? 100% of readers can usually understand a sentence of eight words, according to the American Press Institute. (I couldn’t find a link to the study itself, but author and writing coach Ann Wylie references it.) Only 0-9% can understand a sentence of 43 or more words. I think we can guarantee that not many people will understand this without reading and re-reading it many times:

From July 1, 2010, until June 30, 2018, with the introduction of the HST in Ontario and British Columbia, large businesses – generally those making taxable supplies worth more than $10 million annually, and certain specified financial institutions – will be required to repay or “recapture” the portion of any available input tax credits (ITCs) that is attributable to the provincial part of the HST that becomes payable, or is paid without having become payable, in respect of a specified property or service that is acquired, or brought into one of these provinces, by a large business for consumption or use by that business in those provinces.

Faced with an indigestible paragraph like this, the writer/editor who wants to be kind to readers will use these tools:

• Break the paragraph into shorter sentences.
• Focus on one thought per sentence. For example, move the explanation of a large business to a separate sentence.
• Use smaller words.
• Replace phrases like “in respect of” with simple transitions, like “for.”

Fortunately (or unfortunately, looking at those lost millions), I am not a large business, so I don’t have to understand that lengthy sentence, or the 28 pages that follow it. For the real scoop on what does apply to me, I’m attending a session tonight put on by the Halton-Peel Communications Association. You can be sure we won’t hear any 105-word sentences.

IABC/Toronto treated volunteers to a lovely appreciation event on June 16, a buffet dinner aboard the Jubilee Queen, a replica of a Mississippi paddlewheel boat. The weather had been iffy all day, but the sun came out as we lined up to board.

Having arrived early, my friend Donna Papacosta and I first toured the beautiful Toronto Music Garden. This charming space celebrates its 10th year this year, and I am somewhat embarrassed to say this is not only the first time I have visited it, it’s the first time I’ve even heard of it!

The space is the creation of renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma and landscape designer Julie Moir Messervy. The garden has six “rooms,” each an interpretation of the traditional dance forms featured in Bach’s First Suite for the Unaccompanied Cello. For example, Courante is “an exuberant movement” interpreted in an upward-spiralling path through tall grasses and perennials, topped by a Maypole (the creation of Canadian artist Anne Roberts).

It’s a lovely, calm, inviting spot, and a fine example of communicating meaning in unexpected and inspiring ways. Even better, throughout the summer it showcases free concerts in the Music Pavilion (created by architectural blacksmith Tom Tollefson) every Thursday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m., weather permitting. The garden is located at 475 Queen’s Quay West, between Bathurst Street and Spadina Avenue in Toronto.

A Maypole tops the Courante "room" at the Toronto Music Garden. Look closely and you'll see a visitor doing her own interpretation of exuberant movement!

In all the excitement of the IABC 2010 World Conference last week, I forgot to point out the excellent Green Guide put together by IABC/Toronto’s Corporate Social Responsibility committee.

The guide is designed to provide “best practices, communications planning and success stories in green marketing communications, sustainable and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.” There are sources for vendors who provide ecologically responsible materials, tips for implementing environmental practices within an organization, a glossary of terms and examples of successful green campaigns.

The guide was written by my fellow Toronto independent Frances Roberts of Push Communications. Bernard Hellen, R.G.D., of traffic marketing + design inc., did the layout, and (ahem) I handled editing and proofreading. I’m torn between saying “tell me if you find any mistakes I missed” and “DON’T tell me”! Either way, I’d love to hear what you think.

Download a copy under “Green Guide” from IABC, or here: IABC/Toronto GreenGuide.

Yesterday, I promised more highlights of the  IABC 2010 World Conference in Toronto. Here are some of the takeaways from individual sessions (check IABC for handouts) in roughly the order experienced:

In Strategic Communication Planning, Les Potter, ABC (friend and cosmic blogging partner) said a quick way to determine the issues that need to be treated is to ask your CEO “What keeps you up at night?” Regarding tactics, face-to-face communication has the least reach (it’s hard to get your CEO in front of every employee) but is the most persuasive and powerful, especially if you’re trying to move people from awareness to acceptance to action. Les also said don’t wait until the end of a cycle or year to see how your plan is doing; do some sort of check every quarter so you can adjust as you go along.

When conducting communication audits, Karen Vahouny, ABC and Tracy Finneman suggested we determine what key information we really want to learn, and what will drive better employee decision making. Also check your communication channels; are they useful, clear, timely and relevant?

Julie Gebauer noted in Closing the Engagement Gap that due to the recession, people are thankful to have a job but disgruntled from pay decreases, few opportunities for promotion and low or no bonuses. To engage these workers, we need to appeal to three dimensions: think/feel/act (or head/heart/hands). Help employees understand how they can advance their own careers and how their work affects the company. Julie gave a great example of a hospital, where the people who clean the rooms were found to have a huge effect on patient satisfaction.

An energetic Gregg Lederman led a session on Engaging Employees to Out-Behave the Competition. Brand integrity, he said, means you are who and what you say you are — but if you don’t define the specific behaviours you want, people will make it up. Set expectations for what to think and how to behave; capture examples and communicate those expectations; and hold employees accountable. This includes positive consequences when employees do it right. “Don’t ration praise like it’s going to be gone.”

In Why Should Anyone Trust You?, Veronica Hope Hailey warned that lack of trust is not due to the recession, but was already an issue. She had us write our names with our non-dominant hand (a change) to remind us of the feelings that change elicits — feeling unsure, incompetent, at risk. “When you feel like this, you need leaders you can trust,” she said. Repairing trust includes dialogue, really hearing what people feel and think, and dealing with people fairly.

Mark Evans talked about Social Media Beyond Tweets, Followers, Digg, Updates, etc. His somewhat contrary opinion was that instead of a “dangerous obsession with metrics,” we should be spending our time telling stories that engage the audience, educate, entertain and inform. Rather than having a snippet of conversation with every single person (think Twitter), we should be connecting with a smaller number of people and having a real conversation.

William Amurgis shared a fabulous view of what a corporate intranet can be in How to Transform your Corporate Intranet. If your intranet isn’t keeping up with Facebook, Google, Twitter etc., he suggested, you’re failing. Thus the American Electric Power intranet features blogs, community pages, a photo of the week, personal pages and lots of discussion and interaction. His advice: keep it simple and relevant; enhance employee productivity; reinforce corporate messages; provide a place for everyone to meet; and have a personality. My only quibble is that he did away with an employee newsletter!

Katie Paine talked about her favourite topic, measurement. The key is defining what’s important. So if your CEO says, “We kicked butt this quarter,” what does that mean? What problems have you solved? Did you build relationships, generate leads, get the word out? Once you decide your performance indicators, pick your measurement tool, such as listening tools and web analytics, surveys and samples. (Shel Holtz recorded and posted Katie doing a similar session.)

As always, because I’m a writer, I like to get inspired by attending a session on writing, and so ended up the last day with Ann Wylie’s Six Secrets of Persuasion.  They are (1) exert authority (quote experts and authority figures; (2) deliver less (offer A, B or C options and don’t confuse people with too much choice); (3) become a social butterfly (people are more likely to do what they see others doing); (4) practice likeability (find and point out things we have in common); (5) pull the trigger (use an environmental trigger to change the way people behave); and (6) make it about MOI, or My Own Issues (writing about the reader’s issues, not yours).

Were you at the conference? Which sessions stood out for you?

Part of the fun of attending IABC World Conferences is catching up with friends. My roomie Donna Papacosta is here (far left) with Diana Degan Robinson and me.

I’m back at my desk, trying to turn my brain back to reality after another terrific IABC World Conference.

Once again, I was able to put faces to names of people met online, mostly on Twitter, and reconnect with others met at previous conferences, friends and colleagues. As always, the professional development was solid, the people warm and welcoming, and the social events good fun. We had a great turnout of independents among the 1,400 participants and wore our indie ribbons proudly. And our shopping guide appeared to be a hit!

The official conference start featured the energetic drumming of the Drum Cafe; my hands were sore for a day after joining in! Next came the elegant opening reception at the Royal Ontario Museum Sunday night, followed by the traditional Canada party (sponsored by CNW Group). Unfortunately, I missed the party, but apparently my fellow Canucks held up our reputation with dancing until 2 a.m.

I have to confess that this year’s EXCEL award winner, Xerox’s Kevin Warren, did not generate the same enthusiasm in me as previous recipients did. His speech was very scripted and full of jargon; anyone playing “buzzword bingo” would have achieved bingo in the first 5 minutes. However, his more engaging and casual self emerged during the question-and-answer session.

Tuesday’s general session featured an inspiring talk by Craig Kielburger, co-founder of Free The Children and Me to We, talking about the value of bringing the non-profit perspective to the business world.  “People are desperate for meaning and want to know their jobs make a difference,” he said. Tap into that by building a culture of empathy (listen, don’t make assumptions), community (work together for the common good), meaning (celebrate success) and legacy (build a team and plant the seeds).

Guy Kawasaki closed the conference on Wednesday talking about the Art of Innovation, gaining enormous Canadian brownie points by sharing his love of hockey. He also earned applause by repeating his 10-20-30 rule of pitching: the optimum number of slides in a presentation is 10, given in 20 minutes, using no smaller than 30-point type. Although he had a few more than 10 slides, there were 10+1 main points about innovation, including make meaning (be motivated by how you can change the world, not just how you can make money); don’t worry, be crappy (when your product is revolutionary, don’t wait for perfection, fix the crappy parts in version 1.2); and let 100 flowers blossom (people who aren’t your intended prospects will buy and use your product for untended purposes; let them).

As happened in New York and San Francisco, I roomed this year with my friend, colleague and podcasting expert Donna Papacosta. Even though the conference was local this year, staying at the hotel saved us from horrible commutes and we split both the costs and the fun. Thanks, Donna!

In all, it was time well spent. Now it’s back to work to make up for all that time away from my desk, and I’ll share some of the session highlights another day.

Interested in my past IABC World Conference adventures?

• San Francisco round-up and highlights
• New York round-up, highlights and food highlights.

Sooner or later, when you find yourself in a new city, you probably do a bit of shopping. Maybe you pick up a souvenir to take home, or you replace a shirt that has miraculously sprouted a coffee stain, or you need some toiletries.  But where do you go?

Something I have often thought of but never found while attending an IABC World Conference is an insider’s guide to shopping in that city. Where do the locals go to buy a pair of jeans, for instance? What’s the best spot for souvenirs? Is there a place close to the hotel I shouldn’t miss?

So with the conference coming to Toronto June 6-9, IABC/Toronto’s Professional Independent Communicators, local colleagues and I have been working on producing The Insider’s Guide to Shopping in Toronto. And I’m happy to say it’s done.

As the guide notes, there are plenty more stores than are listed, but we’ve tried to keep recommendations to those from someone we know and that are within a reasonable distance of the conference hotel.

Particular thanks go to Christina Scicluna, who was an invaluable resource in sharing the results of her own personal adventures and pulling together recommendations from other friends and colleagues, and Teri McMahon, R.G.D., who designed the guide. I’d also like to thank the numerous people who responded to my requests for recommendations on Twitter or email.

For more online shopping advice, visit Modern Urban Guides, Toronto Life Shopping and Toronto Shopoholic, a blogger I found via Twitter but too late to get into the guide.

Want to see? There will be a small number of print copies at the hospitality desk during the conference, or download The Insider’s Guide to Shopping in Toronto now:

IABC/PIC Toronto Shopping Guide

And I’d love your feedback!

There are few things more intimidating in the photo world than a passport picture. Maybe it’s because you know it’s going to stick with you for at least five years, and the “neutral” expression you’re supposed to have will actually end up making you look grim and ill. In fact, you’ll look more like a terrorist than ever. And isn’t that just perfect, when everyone at the airport is already so touchy?

My passport expires this fall, so getting my photo taken is on my list of things to do. So I laughed when I found — through the serendipity of the web — this perspective, called Has Anybody Seen My Lost Looks? from Jenny Allen in More Magazine:

“The last time they took your two-by-two inch photo, back in the day, you were OK-looking, even in that ghoulish post office fluorescence. You didn’t think you looked OK at the time, but it turns out you were incorrect. You should have appreciated the medium-attractive looks you had…You could have taken pleasure in them! You could have used them to get people to sleep with you and buy you things!…Particularly in light of recent events. Recent events being that your looks seem to have gone away.”

The hilarious Colleen Wainwright aka Communicatrix also blogged about the endless preparation leading up to getting a passport photo taken, in the hopes of looking OK:

“I’d think about getting my passport photo taken, the first step in crossing ‘Renew (expired) passport’ off my list, and then I’d think, ‘Well, I’ll just wait until…’ Until my hair was freshly colored. Until my hair was having a good day. Until I’d figured out an outfit, and bought some makeup, and had had enough sleep. Until, that is, monkeys flew out of my ass. In formation. Typing Shakespeare.”

You may be wondering what communications has to do with passport photos, and yes, there is a link. I think we see ourselves based in part on the feedback we get. When we don’t get much in the way of positive feedback, we might think it’s because there is nothing good to say. More likely, it’s because others just aren’t thinking about your looks, or maybe they think you don’t need it.

For example, when I was on vacation recently, I met a strong, vibrant 60-something woman who really was beautiful, though perhaps not in the tiny, airbrushed model sense. She was absolutely floored when I told her so.

In the case of your corporate job, others expect you to do good work and you do; most times, they don’t think about complimenting or praising you for it. There’s a reason that employee surveys often show that management (sorry, “leadership” is the current buzzword) is doing a less-than-stellar job of reward and recognition.

So here’s an idea. Let’s all try to compliment people a little more. Express appreciation for work done well, even if you expect it, the person has never done anything BUT good work or it’s part of the job. Recognize when someone has gone out of their way for you.

And if all else fails, take heart that you really don’t look much like your passport photo, especially when you smile. So smile!

Well, this is exciting — I’m a guest blogger! Find out what I have to say about “inclusive language” in newsletters and other communications over at Advantis Communications. Oh, you know I have an opinion. Do you?

After a couple of days trying to access my client’s e-mail system without success — and with so much on my plate I had no time to deal with their IT support group — I happened to mention the problem to one of my contacts. It turns out the company’s IT department had changed the way remote users (like me) access the system.

My colleague forwarded what appeared to be a broadcast e-mail message to company employees. As someone using remote access, did I get a direct message? I can’t recall seeing one. And I certainly didn’t get a two-step warning, with a few weeks’ advance notice and a reminder a couple of days before the plug was pulled.

So that’s the “takeaway.” If you’re making a change that affects people who use your system, buy your product, visit your store, please tell them. Tell them more than once. Don’t make them find out by chance.

A dog-walking buddy (someone encountered while we were both walking our dogs) recently lost one of her dogs to cancer. Holly was just two, really still a puppy, so my friend thought there was lots of time for treatment. There wasn’t. Holly died within two weeks of the cancer diagnosis.

People — mostly those who don’t HAVE a dog — will say, oh, it’s just a dog. But it’s never ‘just a dog’ to someone who has been on the receiving end of the total adoration that is a dog’s bond with his or her human.

When my husband and I finally gave in to the pleading and agreed to get a dog, I seriously thought about how old our youngest son would be when the dog inevitably died, reassuring myself that he’d be old enough to handle it. There was no question that my own ability to handle it would be iffy, at best.

There was a wonderful piece in today’s Toronto Star on losing a dog that eloquently captures how I  know I will feel when Jake dies. Lauren Crothers writes:

“Grieving for a dog is an incredibly profound experience and no easier than the death of a human…While trawling the web for information on the process of euthanasia — so I would know how Murphy was going to die — I came across a comment left by someone along the lines of, ‘Who cares? It’s just a dog.’ It is for fear of this kind of reaction that many dog owners internalize their pain as they grieve. Just because it had four legs, chewed all the baseboards in the kitchen and perked up its ears at the sight of a bone doesn’t make the hurt any easier to bear.”

And later,

“Death is not easy to come to terms with. Losing a best friend is particularly difficult. It is never ‘just a dog.’”

I sent my friend a card to acknowledge her grief; it had a touching photo of an empty collar and leash on the front, which was enough to bring a lump to my own throat. Even though Jake, too, chewed all the baseboards in our kitchen, sheds so much that daily vacuuming is needed to keep the tumbleweeds of fur down, and has had me out walking in rain, snow and sub-zero weather, I know I’ll miss him when it’s his turn to go.

For now, thankfully, it’s just his turn to go for a walk.